Application of Differential Evolution for Irrigation Planning: An Indian Case Study A. Vasan & Komaragiri Srinivasa Raju Received: 26 August 2005 / Accepted: 31 August 2006 / Published online: 30 November 2006 # Springer Science + Business Media B.V. 2006 Abstract The present paper demonstrates the applicability of population based search optimization method, namely, Differential Evolution (DE) to a case study of Mahi Bajaj Sagar Project (MBSP), India. Ten different strategies of DE are employed to assess the ability of DE for solving higher dimensional problems as an alternative methodology for irrigation planning. The parameters considered in DE are population size, crossover constant and weighting factor. Linear Programming (LP) is utilized as a comparative approach to assess the ability of DE. Comparison of results of LP and the 10 DE strategies for the given parameters indicated that both the results are comparable even for high dimensional problems. Extensive sensitivity analysis studies, performed for 3,600 combinations of above parameters for the 10 DE strategies suggested that DE/rand-to- best/1/bin strategy is the best strategy giving maximum benefits taking minimum CPU time. It is concluded that DE can be utilized for efficient planning of any irrigation system with suitable modifications. Key words cropping pattern . differential evolution . India . irrigation planning . linear programming 1 Introduction The growing demand for water necessitates efficient utilization in the irrigation sector. In many countries, efforts to raise agricultural production led to a greater dependence on irrigation. This pressure is more severe in developing countries where water resources are often scarce and many irrigation systems are primitive (Bouwer 2002). Frederiksen (1996) opined that innovations are needed in both the technological and policy dimensions of water resource management to achieve gains in productivity required to feed the world’ s increasing population. Pike (1995) explained the role of irrigation in India in expanding Water Resour Manage (2007) 21:1393–1407 DOI 10.1007/s11269-006-9090-7 A. Vasan (*) : K. S. Raju Department of Civil Engineering, Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani, Rajasthan, India e-mail: vasan@bits-pilani.ac.in